Sherwood
Not to be confused with Sherwood Forest from the legend of Robin Hood. This article pertains to the human kingdom in the Aeon of the Champion story series. 'Sherwood '''is an island nation and kingdom, considered part of the Laudrin continent in the Eastern Kingdoms. Its most distinguishing feature is its western-style natural environment, for despite its presence in the east end of the planet, its vegetation is lush and plentiful; with vast acres of unspoiled environmental beauty. The island is located a step up from Midrule, though the two nations have engaged in trade with each other over the years. Sherwood as a country is also located precariously close to the icy wasteland of Ikljord. History Early history Like Midrule, Sherwood was very much self-governing for most of its history, even before the official collapse of Anthromor in -1,350. The island was too far away from Arathor for the emperor and his entourage to be concerned with the affairs of the citizens, an apathetic attitude bolstered by Sherwood's relatively low contributions to the empire's coffers. Sherwood's citizenry were already paying very little - less than any of the other six kingdoms - towards the maintenance of the empire, having negotiated their way out of a payment deal (with less military coverage to compensate) and did not contribute any soldiers towards the empire's collective army. This was tolerated for a time, but when the Elf-Troll Wars came to a head in -4,403, the Arathi chiefs surmised that they required double the amount of stamp duty money they had in order to take the fight to the Arverni. Thus, they began blackmailing the thanes of Sherwood's various tribes, attempting to hector them into giving up money. When letters and threats did not work, an armed taskforce led by the Sheriff of Arathor, Baron Darwyn Sutherland, to take the taxes by force. Despite the large military advantage that the Sheriff had, Sherwood folklore has it that the Sheriff's work was undone by the courageous efforts of an archer hero known as Robert Houdlon (affectionately referred to as Robin Hood by islanders for the hood he always supposedly wore into battle). His band of Merry Men defeated the Sheriff's plots to confiscate the island's treasures at every turn, and, when the taskforce capitulated and decided to sail back to Arathor, orchestrated the destruction of their ships, which saw Sutherland and his forces run completely aground off the Great Eastern Sea, delivering them into the hands of a furious Queen Primarina. Independence and new arrivals Following the humiliating 'Tax War', pseudoindependent status best described Sherwood. Cast off from the Arathi Pact, it developed in its own right as a haven for natural resources such as timber and sap, as well as its fledging wildlife. Some even believed it could contain one of the several enchanted forests. Intent on preserving the serenity of the land, the Sherwood islanders develop a culture of isolationism, cutting themselves away from the rest of the world (though they did still accept trade from the humans of Midrule and the Aurili of Ikljord). By -1,350, Arathor was no more, yet little changed as independence has been achieved centuries ago. Around -1,300, some high elves from the Kingdom of Quel'thalas found themselves in a difficult position. Discontent with the pervasiveness of magic in the Eastern Kingdoms, which was encouraged by the ranking magi in Grevalon and by House Dawndancer in Quel'anore, they also remembered the very reason they left Nythsandr in the first place. Turning their backs on arcane magic now would make them look like cowards and hypocrites. Yet, as the arcane arts spreads across Laudrin, they decided to swallow the bitter pill and leave the high elven kingdom for greener pastures. Thus, within 10-20 years, the elven population of Sherwood increased exponentially. Though they were still rather few in number, their community was significant enough to expand across the forested north/northwest of the island. Though they found solace in the tranquility of the land, they were left wondering what to make of themselves - unused to the wild by day due to the abandonement of their night elf roots, and tormented by the wild animals that ravaged their camps by night, soon, the high elf refugees began to regret their decision to leave. Returning home, however, meant humiliation, and no there was no chance that King Dawndancer would hand them back their old status. Seeing the reality of their decision to led some high elves to pursue a pragmatic approach: embracing their new surroundings. These elves followed the example of Sylvena Verdana. She had spent the past years attuning her mind, body and soul to the natural rhythm of the wild, to the point where she was effectively at one with the spirit of the land. This allowed her night elf instincts to take over, and the Wild Gods of Sherwood arose once more. Thus, in -1,285, Sylvena became the first high elf Druid, and a handful of other elves began to follow this path. Soon, the community began practicing druidism as a way of life (stopping short of moon worship, of course), and began calling themselves the 'wood elves' (or A'manu, in honour of the forest). The indigenous people of Sherwood were happy to allow this to continue, seeing how nicely-maintained the forests were becoming. Sylvena's diplomatic approach to the chiefs of the island was instrumental to the strong relations forged between the two powers. First Earth War ''Main article: First Earth War During the First Earth War, Sherwood remained uninvolved. Still disconnected from the outside world, save for occasional trades with Midrule, most people in the kingdom had no idea the war was even on. The Midrulians, who themselves were not involved in the conflict, did not spread the word of the war to Sherwood, and the status quo thus ensued. Second Earth War Main article: Second Earth War Sherwood played a mostly defensive role in the war, though this doesn't mean they were pacifists. Vez'nan soon recovered from the coma brought upon him by the merfolk king Aquarius, and, forgetting about his control over Mehla - spymaster general and daughter of the traitorous Kazzakh Steelhammer - he started mining the sundering epicentre for demonic artefacts to bolster his power over the rapidly-declining Genesis Order. Aquarius, however, once again struck at him, and, tapping into his shamanistic side, opened a portal to Primus to let thousands of water elementals into Middle-Earth, which doomed the orcs. Primarina in with the main force to clean up the marauders. The result was that the orcs were forced to retreat after a disastrous defeat, crashing by Sherwood Island. The orcs surmised that they could camp and gather supplies from the area to continue the eastern front's war, and had just start exploiting the labour of some of the elven communities on the coast when the A'manu wood elves and southern human clans both agreed that they were not welcome on the island. Thus, High Chieftain Percy Niall and Archdruidess Sylvena Verdana joined forces to extirpate them from Sherwood forever. The military operative against the orcs was carried out by Laconia Thunderthistle, the First Ranger, and her Wood Rangers managed to flush out the orcish forces as far up as Sherwood Outpost. This came at the expense of her husband Zenath, who was shot by an unidentified human during a heated skirmish. Hoewver, the resistance was a success, and the enslaved elves were liberated. Government structure Sherwood is not a 'kingdom' in the usual respect. It is divided into numerous clans, all of which have their own chieftain - a male figure who is executive for the entire clan. The clan executives are subordinate to the High Chieftain, who represents the entirety of the southern clans. The chieftains convene regularly at clan meetings (only men are able to attend these) in order to discuss policy and the distribution of resources within the local economy. House Niall has held the post of High Chieftain for the past 136 years. The current chieftain, Frieder Niall, has been ruling for 13 years. Trivia *Though unrelated, the name of the kingdom is a reference to Sherwood Forest. Category:Countries Category:Aeon of the Champion articles Category:Aeon of the Champion locations Category:Kingdoms Category:Islands Category:Smurf Manian's articles